Zimbabwean churches in Matabeleland are expected to stage peaceful protests in Bulawayo Thursday against increasing cases of corruption in the country which was recently rated by Transparency International as the most corrupt nation in the Southern African region.

The campaign was first launched in Harare last Saturday by various heads of Christian denominations who want to end corruption among poor people worldwide.

It was meant to coincide with the International Ant-Corruption Day that was observed on December 9.

One of the organisers of the event, Reverend Useni Sibanda of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, said the churches will be accompanied by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission.

Participating church organisations include the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Council of Churches, Zimbabwe Christian Alliance and various apostolic faith denominations.

Reverend Sibanda said corruption has become an undesirable culture in Zimbabwe.

He said: “The church needs to shine its light on the world and put the spotlight on corruption.”

In its 2012 Corruption Perception Index, the organisation said the country scored 20 points out of 100, an indication that it has high cases of corruption.

The index is presented on a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (clean). Zimbabwe was ranked 163 out of 176 assessed nations, making it the most corrupt nation in the Southern African Development Community region.

According to Transparency International, Somalia and North Korea are the world’s most corrupt countries while Denmark and Finland are seen as nations with the least cases of corruption.